The Body - I’ve Seen All I Need to See (2021)

In some ways, the Body's first non-collaborative studio album since 2018's I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer. is one of their more stripped-down records, mainly focusing on drums, vocals, and violently overdriven guitars, similar to their live setup. Previous experiments with orchestral arrangements, operatic vocals, and production inspired by contemporary pop and chopped-and-screwed hip-hop have resulted in some of the duo's boldest, most audacious works, but this time around they seek to do more with less. While the explosive drums and suffocating guitar riffs carry an unmistakable doom metal influence, the overall presentation comes closer to death industrial and power electronics than their earlier material. The guitars are built up into overpowering walls of distortion, and Chip King's harrowing shrieks are both commanding and tortured. "A Lament" opens the album with a somber monologue sample, and the thudding drums and distorted growls are processed into rhythmic glitches. Later on, longtime collaborator Chrissy Wolpert's piano playing adds a touch of corroded light to the blackened maelstrom. Lee Buford's drumming is one of the album's most powerful assets, giving the music more of a drive on tracks like "Tied Up and Lock In" and "The Handle/The Blade," and exploring dub-like space on the more lumbering "Eschatalogical Imperative." The measured blasts and mind-warping effects of "They Are Coming" are overwhelming in the best way possible. "A Pain of Knowing" is less tethered to rhythm, and one of the album's starkest, grimmest tracks. "Path of Failure" is a storm of festering distortion and chaotic free jazz drumming, finally landing at a blown-out, skull-crushing rhythm during the final minute. Even though the Body are clearly trying different approaches and continually pushing their sound into new territory, I've Seen All I Need to See still somehow carries an air of familiarity. The piercing vocals are one of the duo's unmistakable hallmarks, and the lyrical themes are as bleak and unforgiving as anything else in their massive discography, which stretches back to the early 2000s. Nevertheless, by doing away with some of the more extravagant, theatrical elements of the Body's past albums, the release is undeniably some of their most direct and punishing work.